Arrangements with optical semiconductor elements, such as for example light-emitting diodes and laser diodes, require effective heat management, since the light generation or the efficiency of the radiation generation depends greatly on the temperature, to be specific such that higher operating temperatures result in lower efficiency. It is therefore important, for example, to keep what is known as the junction temperature as low as possible. For this purpose, the semiconductor element is usually connected to heat sinks for establishing a heat-conducting contact.
An arrangement with semiconductor elements may be, for example, a laser-array projector. Such projectors have a multiplicity of laser diodes arranged in one plane in the manner of an array. A respective laser diode has in this case a housing, which has a heat sink in the form of a substantially circular-cylindrical plate, on the upper side of which a cup-shaped cap—the diameter of which is smaller than the diameter of the heat sink—is arranged and on the underside of which contact pins are arranged. The cup-shaped cap has in its bottom a through-opening, through which the radiation emitted by the laser diode can pass. The heat sink in plate form of the housing of the laser diode is inserted flush in a blind-hole bore of a semiconductor element carrier in plate form, a depth of the heat sink in plate form of the housing corresponding approximately to a depth of the blind-hole bore of the semiconductor element carrier. For securing the laser diodes, the semiconductor element carrier is then connected in a sandwich-like manner to a perforated plate, which for each laser diode has a through-bore, which in each case has a smaller diameter than a respective blind-hole bore of the semiconductor element carrier and into which the cup-shaped caps of the laser diodes fit. As a result of the small diameter of its through-bores, the perforated plate then partly covers over the blind-hole bores, whereby the laser diodes are firmly secured by way of their heat sink in plate form between the semiconductor element carrier and the perforated plate. Production tolerances of the installed elements may mean that a heat outflow from the heat sink of a respective laser diode to the semiconductor element carrier or to the perforated plate is disadvantageously extremely low, since there is often scarcely any heat-conducting contact.
Furthermore, the laser-array projector explained above may additionally have a lens carrier plate, which is firmly connected in a sandwich-like manner to the perforated plate, and consequently the perforated plate is provided between the lens carrier plate and the semiconductor element carrier in plate form. The lens carrier plate generally has for each laser diode a through-opening, into which one or more optical elements, such as for example lenses, are inserted. In this case, the tolerance of the installed elements has an effect on the position, in particular the distance, of the optical elements in relation to the laser diode, which leads for example to the projector having losses of definition in its imaging plane during use.